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| Drake Musician Abi Sinar with participant George Riddell |
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday 22nd
August 2012
No Place Like Home to play music for people with
autism!
This week sees the roll-out of MusicSPACE at Home, a collaboration between Drake Music Scotland
and Places for People Scotland Care & Support. It provides a fantastic
opportunity for people with autism and other support needs to learn to play
music - in their own homes! This highly innovative project, funded through the
Scottish Government’s Autism Development Fund, will bring a Drake Music
Scotland musician round to ring the doorbell for their regular weekly music
session. Both organisations are based at
SPACE, Craigmillar’s Social Enterprise and Arts Centre in east Edinburgh and
came up with the joint project when they found they shared the common aim of tackling
social exclusion and isolation of people with support needs in the local
community.
As well as providing the professional musicians with their
specialised expertise and resources such as Figurenotes which enables people to start learning to play music, MusicSPACE at Home will build
participants’ confidence and they will be encouraged to go along to SPACE to
join in with group music- making activities, reducing the isolation and lack of
opportunities often experienced by people with autism.
Several of the
participants have already demonstrated talent and keen enthusiasm, surprising
some of their carers and family members with what they have already achieved
through a pilot carried out over the last few months. Drake musician Abi Sinar, from Edinburgh,
comments: ‘When I first went to see this
client she seemed to enjoy playing and tried a couple of simple tunes. She was quite incredible. I put the sheet music for ‘Oh When the
Saints’ in front of her and she played straight through accurately and at a
very fast speed. We tried a few other
tunes with similar results. She would be
able to learn 2 parts with 2 hands and would quickly progress onto more complex
music. Figurenotes is a good place to start in order to motivate her and build
her confidence.’
The project will continue
until the end of the year, working towards a special event when
participants will be able to share their music and perform for their friends
and families.
Drake Music Scotland Chief Executive Thursa Sanderson says,
“We are delighted to be working with Places
for People Scotland Care & Support as we both share similar aims. We provide music-making opportunities and
they have also used the arts to provide fun as well as meaningful, progressive
learning opportunities for service users.
It makes absolute sense for us to work together to bring the best
resources to this group who have limited opportunities for participating in
local community life, but often have special talents and a lot to offer. Figurenotes - a music notation system based on colour and
shape - is new to Scotland, but has already proved to be a fantastic way for
people to play instruments and learn simple tunes and chords, which can lead on
to playing in a group”.
Places for People
Scotland Care & Support’s Director Rhona Murray says, “The Scottish
Government’s grant offers a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with Drake
Music Scotland. Combining our skills to enable people
with autism to learn to play music, will
provide each individual with lots of opportunities through 1:1 and group work,
to develop and improve their confidence, social engagement and self worth. This
is a project that will make a real difference to participants and their carers.
Notes
to Editor
Drake Music Scotland
Drake Music Scotland is a registered
charity in Scotland making music accessible for people of all ages with
disabilities and additional support needs.
Based in Edinburgh, they work across Scotland using new music technology
and Figurenotes notation to enable people with disabilities to play, compose
and perform music as independently as possible. Since 1997, they have
• delivered their Switch On to Music
programme to over 6000 children in special schools
• given 2000 adults with disabilities the
chance to make music for the first time
• trained over 300 teachers to use new
music technology and Figurenotes
They produce a range of concerts, conferences and collaborate
with a range of arts and music education organisations such as the Scottish
Chamber Orchestra, Sistema Scotland and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Places for People Scotland Care &
Support (PfPSC&S) is a voluntary sector social
care provider and a subsidiary of Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association and
both companies are members of the Places for People Group. They provide support and care to 300 people
in Edinburgh and the Lothians, including housing with support, care at home,
outreach services and day services. They provide services to 56 people with
autism and complex needs, enabling them to lead lives of their choosing in
their own homes in the community. Many
have limited verbal communication and behaviours that can challenge.
The
organisation’s aims and objectives are to provide accessible, responsive and high
quality care and support to vulnerable and excluded individuals and their
families, through direct delivery, enhanced partnership working and enhanced
opportunities for social inclusion and personal development.
Contact: Thursa Sanderson
Tel: 0131 659 4766
Email:
info@drakemusicscotland.org
www.drakemusicscotland.org
Drake Music Scotland
SPACE, 11 Harewood Road
EDINBURGH, EH16 4NT
